Look What I Found

[CarlS]

As many of you know, I like to clean artillery projectiles and have been doing so for a long time.  Recently I was cleaning a nice 3-inch Hotchkiss percussion shell for forum member "Dave The Plumber "that had just been drilled and was washing the powder out when I washed something out besides powder.  It looked like a percussion cap and in fact was.  As the shell was intact and the fuse in good shape I didn't really understand how the cap got off the slider and out of the fuse body into the shell cavity.  So then I soaked the shell overnight to loosen/soften the remaining powder (there always is some) and power washed it again.  This time the slider nipple and some small pieces of the pewter slider body washed out.  I wish I cold see inside the shell to see how the slider got out of the fuse and into the shell powder cavity.  It shouldn't be able to get out of the hole in the bottom of the fuse body.  The slider also appears to have disintegrated apon firing and thus not able to function as it should.

So I thought some of you might like to see the images of the two fuse pieces.  The percussion cap is the type with the ridges around the side.  The nipple shows very well how it's shaped which is not always seen as these are usually hidden in the slider or very corroded.  It is made of brass/copper and has two plates around it that the slider is cast around during construction for strength.  I also included a couple images of the type of fuse used in the shell.  Note this fuse is not fired and the image of the fuse bottom show it still has the lead safety plug in the base that would have been pulled out by inertia when the shell was fired.

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Carl,
Thank you for posting the unusual find. Below is my illustration of this unusual cap nipple and also of the sectioned fuze.
If your shell was fired I suspect that the violence of setback and a fuze body flaw permitted the striker assembly to break through the bottom of the fuze. There is no other way that this could happen, unless these pieces were dropped into the shell as it was being filled with BP.
   What is amazing is how the striker broke into pieces because the lead and nipple are encapsulated in a brass sleeve.
Too bad that this one could not be radiographed.
Regards,
John

[emike123]

Its funny what artifacts end up in shells.  I remember Dave found a tow hook jammed in one once.  That Grand Gulf Read I had at Rcihmond has the bottom half of a CS copper time fuse adapter rattling around inside it.  That discovery helped clear up some of our confusion over whether that type had anything other than wood fuse adapters.

[pipedreamer65]

Pretty neat.

Dr. Stanley South found a schenkl fuze at Fort Fisher that had wadded newspaper inside that blocked the slider from functioning.  Interesting thing is, the newspaper headline said "Butler" on it and appears to be a report of the failure of General Ben Butler during the first battle for the fort.  This would make the fuze a relic from the 2nd battle.  A mini time capsule.

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

I opened up a 5 inch Navy Schenkl that had a handfull of percussion caps in the powder.
John

[emike123]

For ETEX:  I opened up a rare self imploding time bomb and found Jerry Jones and Tony Romo huddled inside.

[Treadhead]

Here’s a Schenkl Percussion Fuse I picked up from the honorable Pete George at a Richmond show a few years ago.  It obviously hit something very hard, but the percussion cap had been dislodged prior to the strike and both it and the nipple were smashed flat.  The cap is still inside the fuse.  I’m sure the gunner was asking himself,

 “Where the heck did that one go, I’m sure I hit it that time?”   

Doug

AKA Treadhead

[divedigger]

I found a 10" Columbiad with an eye bolt blacksmith welded in the fuse hole, it took a lot of doing but I got it out and inside was a 2" wood screw, a blue trade bead, a brass bullet casing, 2 iron brads, an oyster shell, a 4 1/2" piece of wood, 2 horse shoe nails, 2 short iron rods, and 9 miscellaneous iron scraps, it looked like they swept off the workbench and put the trash in the shell, pretty interesting to me. I also remember hearing about the fuse Dr South found at Ft Fisher

[John D. Bartleson Jr.]

Doug,
Thanks for that one.  A most unusual dud.
John

[pipedreamer65]

I found a 10" Columbiad with an eye bolt blacksmith welded in the fuse hole, it took a lot of doing but I got it out and inside was a 2" wood screw, a blue trade bead, a brass bullet casing, 2 iron brads, an oyster shell, a 4 1/2" piece of wood, 2 horse shoe nails, 2 short iron rods, and 9 miscellaneous iron scraps, it looked like they swept off the workbench and put the trash in the shell, pretty interesting to me. I also remember hearing about the fuse Dr South found at Ft Fisher

Sounds like something Hezbollah, PLO or the IRA would throw together.

[ETEX]

Mike, was Jason Garret anywhere to be found. That's alright I hear Tony and Jason will be heading to Chi Town to be back with Sam, Roy, and Marion.

[Dave the plumber]

  etex,    was that last post some secret coded message??!!

              "The red rooster runs at midnight"